The Central Bank of Iran has denied any change in the agenda of the Crypto-Rial project.
According to the CBI public relations department, the regulator is working on its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) project despite rumors and concerns of some crypto experts. No details were announced about the CBDC progress.
Ali Khodaverdian, a lawmaker, recently said that the CBI should suspend plans to delve into digital currency. "According to the current monetary and banking laws, the central bank's involvement in the digital currency project lacks legal basis."
Khodaverdian, in a talk with the semi-private Mehr News Agency, referred to a Majlis session on the digital currency project. "Based on monetary and banking laws, the CBI is not authorized to utilize non-physical financial instruments. It can only issue physical coins and banknotes."
He emphasized that the legal framework surrounding digital currencies and CBI’s involvement in it should be clearly defined and announced by amending the existing monetary and banking laws.
The Farsi-language Peivast magazine on Thursday quoted an official from the CBI who said that the project has already past its pilot stages.
According to the unnamed official, Bank Melli, Bank Mellat and Bank Tejarat were involved in the experimental stages. All banks and credit institutions are to start offering electronic wallets for using the new form of national currency. Bank Melli and Bank Mellat have started selling limited amounts of crypto-rial and also accept it.